German mathematician, cartographer and explorer (1733?1815)
Carsten Niebuhr
, or
Karsten Niebuhr
(17 March 1733
Ludingworth
? 26 April 1815
Meldorf
,
Dithmarschen
), was a German
mathematician
,
cartographer
, and
explorer
in the service of
Denmark
. He is renowned for his participation in the
Danish Arabia expedition
(1761-1767). He was the father of the Danish-German statesman and historian
Barthold Georg Niebuhr
, who published an account of his father's life in 1817.
Early life and education
[
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]
Carsten Niebuhr in the attire of a distinguished Arab in Yemen, gift from al-Mahdi Abbas, Imam of Yemen
Niebuhr was born in Ludingworth (now a part of
Cuxhaven
,
Lower Saxony
) in what was then
Bremen-Verden
. His father Barthold Niebuhr (1704-1749) was a successful
farmer
and owned his own property. Carsten and his sister were educated at home by a local school teacher, then he attended the Latin School in
Otterndorf
, near
Cuxhaven
.
Originally Niebuhr had intended to become a
surveyor
, but in 1757 he went to the
Georgia Augusta
University of Gottingen
, at this time Germany's most progressive institution of higher education. Niebuhr was probably a bright student because in 1760
Johann David Michaelis
(1717-1791) recommended him as a participant in the
Danish Arabia expedition
(1761-1767), mounted by
Frederick V of Denmark
(1722?1766). For a year and a half before the expedition Niebuhr studied mathematics, cartography and navigational astronomy under
Tobias Mayer
(1723?1762), one of the premier astronomers of the 18th century, and the author of the Lunar Distance Method for determining longitude. Niebuhr's observations during the Arabia Expedition proved the accuracy and the practicality of this method for use by mariners at sea.
Expeditions
[
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]
The expedition sailed in January 1761 via Marseilles and Malta to
Istanbul
and
Alexandria
. Then the members of the expedition visited
Cairo
and
Sinai
, before traversing the
Red Sea
via
Jiddah
to
Yemen
, which was their main destination.
In
Mocha
, on 25 May 1763, the expedition's philologist,
Frederik Christian von Haven
, died, and on 11 July 1763, on the way to
Sana?a
, the capital of Yemen, its naturalist
Peter Forsskal
also died.
In Sana?a the remaining members of the expedition had an audience with the Imam of Yemen
al-Mahdi Abbas
(1719?1775), but suffered from the climate and returned to Mocha. Niebuhr seems to have preserved his own life and restored his health by adopting native dress and eating native food.
From Mocha the expedition continued to
Bombay
, the expedition's artist Georg Wilhelm Baurenfeind died on the 29th of August and the expedition's servant Lars Berggren on the following day; both were buried at sea. The surgeon Christian C. Kramer (1732?1763) also died, soon after landing in Bombay. Niebuhr was the only surviving member. He stayed in Bombay for fourteen months and then returned home by way of
Muscat
,
Bushire
,
Shiraz
, and
Persepolis
.
His copies of the cuneiform inscriptions at Persepolis proved to be a key turning-point in the decipherment of cuneiform, and the birth of
Assyriology
.
[2]
[3]
His transcriptions were especially useful to
Georg Friedrich Grotefend
, who made the first correct decipherments of
Old Persian cuneiform
:
[4]
-
Niebuhr inscription 1. Now known to mean "Darius the Great King, King of Kings, King of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenian, who built this Palace".
[4]
Today known as
DPa
, from the Palace of Darius in Persepolis, above figures of the king and attendants
[5]
-
Niebuhr inscription 2. Now known to mean "Xerxes the Great King, King of Kings, son of Darius the King, an Achaemenian".
[4]
Today known as
XPe
, the text of fourteen inscriptions in three languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian) from the Palace of Xerxes in Persepolis.
[6]
He also visited the ruins of
Babylon
(making many important sketches),
Baghdad
,
Mosul
, and
Aleppo
. He seems also to have visited the
Behistun Inscription
in around 1764. After a visit to
Cyprus
, he made a tour through
Palestine
, crossed the
Taurus Mountains
to
Bursa
, reached
Constantinople
in February 1767 and finally arrived in
Copenhagen
in the following November.
Map of Yemen, prepared by Niebuhr
Niebuhr's production during the expedition is indeed impressive. It includes small-scale maps and charts of
Yemen
, the
Red Sea
, the
Persian Gulf
and
Oman
, and other larger scale maps covering the
Nile Delta
, the
Gulf of Suez
and the regions surrounding various port cities he visited, including
Mocha
and
Surat
. He completed 28 town plans of significant historical value because of their uniqueness for that period.
In summary, Niebuhr's maps, charts and plans constitute the greatest single addition to the cartography of the region that was produced through field research and published in the 18th century.
[7]
Family and later career
[
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]
In 1773, Niebuhr married Christiane Sophia Blumenberg, the daughter of the crown physician, and for some years he held a post in the Danish military service, which enabled him to remain in
Copenhagen
. In 1776 he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
. In 1778 he accepted a position in the civil service of Danish
Holstein
, and went to reside at
Meldorf
(
Ditmarschen
).
In 1806 he was promoted to
Etatsrat
, and in 1809 was made a Knight of the
Order of the Dannebrog
, one of
Denmark?Norway
's most valued honours for service.
Writing and research
[
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]
Niebuhr's first book,
Beschreibung von Arabien
, was published in Copenhagen in 1772, the Danish government providing subsidies for the engraving and printing of its numerous illustrations. This was followed in 1774 and 1778 by the first two volumes of Niebuhr's
Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und andern umliegender Landern
. These works (particularly the one published in 1778), and most specifically the accurate copies of the cuneiform inscriptions found at Persepolis, were to prove to be extremely important to the decipherment of cuneiform writing. Before Niebuhr's publication, cuneiform inscriptions were often thought to be merely decorations and embellishments, and no accurate decipherments or translations had been made up to that point. Niebuhr demonstrated that the three trilingual inscriptions found at Persepolis were in fact three distinct forms of cuneiform writing (which he termed Class I, Class II, and Class III) to be read from left to right. His accurate copies of the trilingual inscriptions gave Orientalists the key to finally crack the cuneiform code, leading to the discovery of Old Persian, Akkadian, and Sumerian.
[8]
The third volume of the Reisebeschreibung, also based on materials from the expedition, was not published till 1837, long after Niebuhr's death, under the editorship of his daughter and his assistant, Johan Nicolaus Gloyer. Niebuhr also contributed papers on the interior of
Africa
, the political and military condition of the
Ottoman Empire
, and other subjects to a German periodical, the
Deutsches Museum
. In addition, he edited and published the work of his friend Peter Forsskal, the naturalist on the Arabian expedition, under the titles
Descriptiones animalium, Flora Aegyptiaco-Arabica
and
Icones rerum naturalium
(Copenhagen, 1775 and 1776).
French
and
Dutch
translations of Niebuhr's narratives were published during his lifetime, and a condensed English translation of his own three volumes, prepared by
Robert Heron
, was published in Edinburgh in 1792, under the title "Travels through Arabia". A facsimile edition of this translation, as by "M. Niebuhr", was published in two volumes by the Libraire du Liban, Beirut (undated).
The government funds covered only a fraction of the printing costs for Niebuhr's first book, and probably a similar or smaller proportion of the costs for the other two volumes. To ensure that the volumes were published, Niebuhr had to pay over 80% of the costs himself. In all, Niebuhr devoted ten years of his life, the years 1768?1778, to the publication of six volumes of findings from the expedition. He had virtually no help from the academics who had conceived and shaped the expedition in
Gottingen
and Copenhagen. It was only Niebuhr's determination to publish the findings of the expedition that ensured that the Danish Arabia expedition would produce results that would benefit the world of scholarship.
[7]
Death and legacy
[
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]
Niebuhr died in
Meldorf
in 1815.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749-1832) highly prized Niebuhr's works. In 1811 he wrote to Niebuhr's son,
Barthold Georg Niebuhr
, that "You carry a name which I have learned to honour since my youth."
Carsten Niebuhrs Gade, a street in the port area of
Copenhagen
, is named for him.
In 2011, Copenhagen's National Library and National Museum held exhibitions of Carsten Niebuhr's life and work, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Danish Arabia Expedition's commencement. Commemorative Carsten Niebuhr postal stamps were issued. And in the same year the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs had planned a series of cultural events based on the Expedition and Niebuhr's work that would take place in Ankara, Cairo, Damascus, Beirut, Tehran, and Yemen. It has been suggested that these efforts were intended in part to repair the reputational damage in the Islamic world caused by the
Danish cartoon controversy
. Ultimately, the planned events were prevented by the
Arab Spring
.
[9]
Works
[
edit
]
- Niebuhr, Carsten.
Beschreibung von Arabien. Aus eigenen Beobachtungen und im Lande selbst gesammleten Nachrichten
. Copenhagen, 1772.
- Niebuhr, Carsten.
Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und andern umliegender Landern
. 2 vols. Copenhagen, 1774?1778.
- Niebuhr, Carsten. "Uber Langen-Beobachtungen im Orient u.s.w. Aus einem Schreiben des konigl. Danischen geheimer Justiz-Raths Carsten Niebuhr".
Monatliche Correspondenz zur Beforderung der Erd- und Himmels-Kunde
4 (1801), pp. 240?253.
- Niebuhr, Carsten. Biographische Nachrichten aus Tobias Mayer's Jugendjahren aus einem Schreiben des Koniglich Danischen Justiz-Raths C. Niebuhr,
Monatliche Correspondenz zur Beforderung der Erd-und Himmels-Kunde
8 (1803), pp. 45?56, and 9 (1804), pp. 487?491.
- Niebuhr, Carsten.
Reisebescheibung nach Arabien und andern umliegenden Landern.
Vol. 3.
Carsten Niebuhr Reisen durch Syrien und Palastina, nach Cypern, und durch Kleinasien und die Turkei nach Deutschland und Dannemark
, edited by J. N.Gloyer and J. Olshausen. Hamburg, 1837.
- Niebuhr, Carsten.
Rejsebeskrivele fra Arabien og andre omkringliggende Lande
, translated by Hans Christian Fink, with an introduction by Michhael Harbsmeier. 2 vols., Copenhagen, 2003.
- Niebuhr, Carsten.
Beskrivelse af Arabien ud fra egne iagttagelser og i landet selv samlede efterretinger
, translated by Hans Christian Fink, with an introduction by Niels Peter Lemche. Copenhagen, 2009.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Niebuhr, Carsten (1778).
Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und andern umliegender Landern
[
Account of travels to Arabia and other surrounding lands
] (in German). Vol. 2. Copenhagen, Denmark: Nicolaus Moller. p. 150.
; see also
the fold-out plate (Tabelle XXXI)
after p. 152. From p. 150:
"Ich will auf der Tabelle XXXI, noch eine, oder vielmehr vier Inschriften H, I, K, L beyfugen, die ich etwa in der Mitte an der Hauptmauer nach Suden, alle neben einander, angetroffen habe. Der Stein worauf sie stehen, ist 26 Fuß lang, und 6 Fuß hoch, und dieser ist ganz damit bedeckt. Man kann also daraus die Große der Buchstaben beurtheilen. Auch hier sind drey verschiedene Alphabete."
(I want to include in Plate XXXI another, or rather four inscriptions H, I, K, L, which I found approximately in the middle of the main wall to the south [in the ruined palace at Persepolis], all side by side. The stone on which they appear, is 26 feet long and 6 feet high, and it's completely covered with them. One can thus judge therefrom the size of the letters. Also here, [there] are three different alphabets.)
- ^
Sayce, Rev. Arnold H. (1908).
The Archaeology of the Cuneiform Inscriptions
(2nd ed.). London, England: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. p. 9.
- ^
a
b
c
Andre-Salvini, Beatrice (2005).
Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia
. University of California Press. p. 129.
ISBN
978-0-520-24731-4
.
- ^
"DPa"
.
Livius
. 2020-04-16
. Retrieved
2023-03-19
.
- ^
"XPe"
.
Livius
. 2020-09-24
. Retrieved
2023-03-19
.
- ^
a
b
Baack, Lawrence J.
Undying curiosity. Carsten Niebuhr and the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia (1761-1767)
. Stuttgart, 2014
- ^
Kramer, Samuel Noah.
The Sumerians: Their History, Culture and Character
. University of Chicago Press, 1963
- ^
Moscrop, Andrew.
The Camel's Neighbour : Travel and Travellers in Yemen
. Oxford, 2020. p. 81.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Baack, Lawrence J.
'A practical skill that was without equal: Carsten Niebuhr and the navigational astronomy of the Arabian Journey, 1761-1767'.
The Mariner's Mirror
, 99.2 (2013), pp. 138?152.
- Baack, Lawrence J.
Undying Curiosity. Carsten Niebuhr and the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia (1761-1767)
. Stuttgart, 2014.
- Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911).
"Niebuhr, Karsten"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 669.
- Eck, Reimer. 'Tobias Mayer, Johann David Michaelis, Carsten Niebuhr und die Gottingen Methode der Langenbestimmung'.
Mitteilungen Gauss-Gesellschaft e. V. Gottingen
, 22 (1986), pp. 73?81.
- Friis, Ib
, Harbsmeier, Michael and Simonsen, Jørgen Bæk.
Early scientific expeditions and local encounters. New perspectives on Carsten Niebuhr and 'The Arabian Journey'. Proceedings of a symposium on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia Felix
. [Copenhagen], 2013.
- Hansen, Anne Haslund.
Niebuhr's Museum. Artefacts and souvenirs from the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia 1761-1767
. Copenhagen, 2016.
- Hansen, Thorkild
.
Arabia Felix
, translated by James and Kathleen McFarlane. New York, 1963.
- Hopkins, I.W.J. 'The maps of Carsten Niebuhr: 200 years after.'
The Cartographic Journal
4 (1967), pp. 115?118.
- Moscrop, Andrew.
The Camel's Neighbour : Travel and Travellers in Yemen
. Oxford, 2020.
- Niebuhr, Barthold Georg
.
Carsten Niebuhrs Leben, Kleine historische und philologische Schriften
. Bonn, 1828.
- Niebuhr, Barthold Georg
.
Vortrage uber alte Geschichte an der Universitat zu Bonn gehalten
, edited M. Niebuhr. Vol. 1. Berlin, 1847.
- Rasmussen, Stig T. (ed.).
Den Arabiske Rejse 1761-1767. En dansk ekspedition set i verdenskabshistorisk perspektiv
. Copenhagen, 1990.
- Rasmussen, Stig T. (ed.).
Carsten Niebuhr und die Arabische Reise 1761-1767. Ausstellung der Koniglichen Bibliothek Kopenhagen in Zusammenbang mit dem Kultusministerium des Landes Schleswig-Holstein
. Heide, 1986.
- Vermeulen, Han F., 'Anthropology and the Orient: C. Niebuhr and the Danish-German Arabia Expedition'. In: Han F. Vermeulen:
Before Boas. the genesis of ethnography and ethnology in the German Enlightenment
. Lincoln & London, University of Nebraska Press, 2016.
ISBN
978-0-8032-5542-5
- Wiesehofer, Josef and Conermann, Stephan (eds).
Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815) und seine Zeit
. Stuttgart, 2002.
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